Nonicing propeller



March 18, 1947. HASLER I 2,417,647

NON-ICING PROPELLER Filed Nov. 4, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.P015527- H HASL A7 ORA IVS.

R. H. HASLER 2,417,647

NON-ICING PROPELLER March 18, 1947.

' a Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 4, 1943 INVENTOR H HASL BY Patented Mar.18, 1947 UNITED STATES -PATENT OFFICE NONICIN G PROPELLER Robert H.Hasler, Westbury, N. Y.

Application November 4, 1943, Serial No.-508,886

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to propellers intended for use on airplanes inall kinds of weather, and to an improved form of construction for protection against adverse and unfavorable atmospheric conditions.

It seeks particularly to protect the propeller from ice formations dueto changes of air tem-- perature and humidity.

While the construction may be embodied in propellers of various kinds,it is particularly applicable to the type shown in my pending patentapplications entitled Aircraft propellers, filed July 29, 1943, SerialNo. 496,550, and Propeller blade, filed August 5, 1943. Serial No.497,435.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a partial vertical sectionthrough the axis of the-propeller hub and pitch-changing mechanism.

- Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the hub housing, with parts omitted.

Figure 4 is a detail, fragmentary sectional view of a portion of thecontrol mechanism, taken on an axial plane similar tothat of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a similar view of another portion of the control mechanism.7

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates at 12 two portions of asupporting casing within which are supported the ball bearings I3 andI4. Bearing I3 is secured in thecasing by nut l5, and bearing M by theplate l6 and screws I! and i8.

The casing contains an engine drive shaft and pinion, not shown. Theengine pinion engages with the gear wheel I9 which is integral with thpropeller drive shaft 20. The rear housing 25 is secured on the driveshaft 20 by means of splines, two of which are shown at 2| and 22. Thesemate with grooves 23 and 24 respectively in the bore of the rearhousing. This rear housing is also secured on drive shaft 29 by thecones 25 and 21 and the retaining nut 28. The gear wheel l9 and housing25 being thus locked to-,

into the rear housing as indicated by the dotted.

lines 35 31,38,159, and 4|.

The front-and rear housings meet on an abutment or divisional plane, asshown by the line 44 in Figure 3. Blade supports and pitch-changingmechanism are embedded in recesses cut in the abutment surfaces and heldin place by the action of the six clamping screws.

The blade supports or bases 48, 49 and 50, as shown in Figure 2, formenclosures for ball bearings, on which they are rotatably mounted, in amanner illustrated in my aforesaid application, Serial No. 496,550, anddescribed more fully hereinafter.

The blades are of hollow construction, and parts other than the bases,comprising the radial or arm parts, are of laminated sheet metalstampings, built up and welded as shown in my application, Serial No.497,435. Portions of these laminated blades 45, 46 and 41 are hereinshown welded to bases 48, 49 and 50 respectively.

Mounting ring 5| is secured to the blade base 48 by screws, two of whichare shown at 52 and 53 (Figure 1). This mounting ring serves a doublepurpose. As shown in Figure 2, its inner edge or shoulder 54 secures theouter. race 55 of the ball bearing 56 against the shouldered inner wallof the blade base, while its outer edge forms the bevel gear teeth 51(Figur 1). The inner races 58 of the ball bearing 56 are secured to theshouldered. mounting stud 59 bv the nut 60 which has a V-shaped grooveextending around its periph ery. This nut is secured in the front andrear housings 29 and 25 by semi-annular V-shaped tongues 6|. fittedtogether that the clamping screws tighten the V-shaped tongues of thehousings into the groove of the nut 50 and thus provide ample supportand stability for the mounting stud 59.

Similar arrangements of spherical bases, ball bearings, mounting rings.studs and nuts are provided in the hub housings for the other twopropeller blades 45 and 41.

Meshed with the teeth of the mounting ring 5| are two bevel pinions 52and 63. Pinion 62 is integral with shaft 64 and its inner bevel pinionB5. Pinion 63 is integralwith shaft 65 and its inner level pinion 5T.Pinions 62 and 63 are also in mesh with the teeth of adjacent mountingrings 68 and 69 respectively. These latter in turn mesh with bevelpinion 10 which is integral with shaft H and. its inner bevel pinion 12.

The recesses in the housings for these shafts and pinions are made withsufficient clearance tightened.

The front and rear housings are so The outer surfaces of these closurepieces conform to the spherical surfaces of the housings. I form theseclosure pieces integrally with conical points I6, Ti and '18 that engagewith corresponding countersinks in the pinions 62, 63 and respectively.These conically-pointed closure pieces thus not only fill the gaps leftby the machining operations, but they also take the thrust of all six ofthe bevel pinions.

Pinions 65, 61 and I2 mesh with bevel gear I9 which is integral with atubular control shaft 80 (Figure 1). The forward part of this tubularshaft 80 includes a stub end II and is carried by the ball thrustbearing SI which is supported in the front housing 29. The rear end ofcontrol shaft 80 is supported in a ball bearin 80 mounted in the rear ofcasing I2, and is provided with two straight slots 82 and 83 cutparallel to the shaft axis, to receive the splines 86 and 8'1 of acontrol barrel 84 which carries at its f0rward end a cylinder 35 thatslides on the shaft 80. There is thus no rotative movement between theshaft 80 and the barrel 04. The cylinder 85 also slides within the boreof the gear wheel I9. External spiral splines 88 and 89 of the barrelcylinder 85 mate with internal spiral slots 90 and 9| respectively ofthe gear I9, as will be understood from an inspection of Figures 1, 4

and 5. Axial movement of barrel 84 thus causes a rotative movementbetween the gear wheel I9 and the housing 25.

Barrel 84 carries a ball bearing 92 that supports a grooved rim 93. Thispart is engaged by the prongs 94 and '05 of a shift fork which issupported by the casing I2. The yoke and supports of this shift fork areof conventional type and need not be shown. Forward pressure on theshift fork to the position indicated by the dotted lines 96 and 91 willcause an angular rotation of the control shaft 80 with respect to thepropeller housing. The cylinder 85 will then take the forward positionindicated by the dotted line I00 in Figure 5. This rotation istransmitted by bevel gear I9 through the bevel pinions to the threemounting rings, thus changing the pitch angles of the blades.

The protection that my invention affords against icy weather conditionsis obtained by the passage of hot gases into and through the interiorparts of the hub and blades, as will be shown. The blades are hollow andare provided with a series of apertures so that when revolving they forma centrifugal pump that facilitates the flow of hot gases through theinterior parts. The formation of ice on the hub and blades may thus beavoided by maintaining a warm condition in advance of such formation.

The source of heat (indicated diagrammatically at IIO*-) may be a jacketsurrounding the engine exhaust pipes, or any other device for thatpurpose, many of which are known in the art. The blades being hollowcontain interior spaces, that of blade being shown at IOI. These spacescommunicate with the outer air through a series of holes or apertures,as mentionegl. Two of these holes in blade 45 are shown at 0 Themounting studs such as 59 are tubular and contain interior spaces I03which communicats with space I04 between the two housings (see Figure1). Space I04 contains the bevel gear I9 before mentioned. The webportion of this gear IS has a suitable number of holes such as Hi5, I06,i0! and I00, that open into the int ricr space 00 of the tubular controlshaft 80. This space I00 extends to the rear end of the control shaftand open into an annular clearance space IIS on the outside of casin I2,

A heat distributor It! includes a tubular projection I I3 that extendsforward into the tubular control shaft from an annular supporting plateH9 secured to the rear of easing I2 by the bolts IE5. The clearancespace II6 above mentioned lies between the plate H9 and the casing I2. Asimilar clearance space I20 lies between the projecting tube H0 and thewall of the control shaft 80. The annular plate II9 may include ports H2open to the outside air.

In the operation of my invention, heated gas or air is admitted orintroduced into the interior space 550 of the heat distributor Hi. Itwill then be drawn by suction of the propeller through the space I00,the holes I05, I00, I07, I08, the spaces I04, I03, EDI, and on outthrough the apertures I02, thus heating the hub and blades.

The clearance spaces H6 and I20 provide for a layer of air that forms aheat insulation between the heat distributor Ill and the casingmechanism and real hub parts. These insulating spaces reduce the amountof heat applied to the casing parts and to the rear hub parts, andincrease the proportion of heat carried to the blades. If it were notfor these insulating spaces, the casing and rear parts of the hub wouldabsorb most of the heat and very little would be available for theblades. The distributor I I"! acts as a by-pass or shunt to carry theheat out into the front parts of the hub and into the blades where it ismost needed.

The insulating function of the clearance space; I I5 and I20 may beaugmented by providing the ports II 2 in the plate H9. The suction ofhot gas through space H30 will cause a small supplementary suction ofcold air through the ports i 52 against the rear wall of casing I2 andthe inner wall of control shaft 80. This effect will further insulatethe casing from the hot gases entering the space H0. The path of the hotgases under propeller suction is indicated by the arrows I2l. A smallamount of cold air is then drawn, as stated, inwardly through the portsH2.

I claim:

1. A non-icing propeller device comprising in combination a casing, atubular drive shaft mounted therein, a tubular heat distributorconcentrically disposed within the drive shaft with an intervening airspace between them, and a plate mounted on a wall of said casing andsupporting said heat distributor, said plate and said wall havingbetween them an air space communicating with the outside atmosphere andwith the air space intervening between the heat distributor and thedrive shaft.

2. A non-icing propeller device comprising in combination a hollowpropeller blade with its interior space opening through the blade wallinto the atmosphere, a tubular drive shaft, a tubular heat distributordisposed within said drive shaft with an intervening space between theirwalls, means for admitting air into said intervening space, means forproviding a supply of warm gas within said heat distributor, hollowdriving connections between said drive shaft and said pro peller bladeproviding communication from the space within the heat distributor andthe space intervening between the heat distributor and the drive shaftthrough said driving connections to the interior of said propellerblade, and means for mechanically rotating said drive shaft to causerotation of said propeller blade and thereby induce a. flow of the warmgas from said heat distributor and the air from the intervening spacebetween the heat distributor and the drive shaft through said drivingconnections and said propeller blade into the atmosphere by thecentrifugal pumping action of the rotating ropeller blade.

ROBERT H. HASLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

